The pearl ; its story, its charm, and its value . egular,as it was in a former stage of its growth. Although pearls naturally grow spherically,many free pearls are more or less buttoned, thatis, have a flat place from which the pearl riseslike a dome, high or low. This happens whenthe pearl is held during growth by the fishagainst the shell with a part of its body inter-vening. According to circumstances, the pearlvaries in form from slightly button, to a lowdome, rising from a plane at its greatest diam-eter. Should a pearl of this description becomedislodged, the rounding action of the mollu
The pearl ; its story, its charm, and its value . egular,as it was in a former stage of its growth. Although pearls naturally grow spherically,many free pearls are more or less buttoned, thatis, have a flat place from which the pearl riseslike a dome, high or low. This happens whenthe pearl is held during growth by the fishagainst the shell with a part of its body inter-vening. According to circumstances, the pearlvaries in form from slightly button, to a lowdome, rising from a plane at its greatest diam-eter. Should a pearl of this description becomedislodged, the rounding action of the molluskwould begin at once to obliterate the plane. If undisturbed, the process would resulteventually in changing the button to a roundor nearly round pearl, but should the pearl betaken from the fish before the metamorphosisis completed, a depression, or pit, would marits contour. When borers intrude through theshell, the presentation is at once covered withnacre, and successive deposits are built uparound it resulting in the nacreous wart known160. VENI ZUE LAN IKAR [.-mi ELI SHOWING BAROQUE GENESIS OF PEARLS as a baroque. The rounding action of themollusk is clearly shown in these excrescences,as the borer is not simply covered and levelledwith the shell, but the slight elevation abovethe level of the lining receives a continuity ofconcentric deposits which finally raise it veryconsiderably above the surface and separate itin construction from the lining to which it isattached. The shell herewith reproduced illus-trates the result. Borers pierced it at the thickpart of the hinge, and burrowing down, enteredthe interior at the point where the baroque isshown. In rare instances, pearls attached tothe shell do escape the concentric deposition,for they have been found buried under evenlayers of nacre, when the mother-of-pearl wascut up in the process of manufacture. From the appearance of the striae when theyare divided lengthwise, pear-shaped pearlsappear to have been spherical at
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